Ruling Party MP: Georgia Will Request Saakashvili’s Extradition from Poland

Nukri Kantaria, member of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, stated that if Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili stays in Poland, official Tbilisi will send the request of his extradition.

Kantaria made the statement in an interview with Palitranews late on Monday, adding Ukraine gave Saakashvili a good gift by expelling him to Poland.

“Saakashvili’s rating was not growing in Ukraine. Now he will continue his political activities in Poland, at least for a short time,” he said.

The lawmaker underlined Saakashvili’s place is in prison.

“I wish Mikheil Saakashvili was in Matrosov's prison, and I am waiting for the time when justice will be restored,” he added.

Kantaria also said Tbilisi has nothing to do with the ex-President’s deportation to Poland, adding no one is afraid of Saakashvili in Georgia, as the opposition used to claim.

Georgia’s ex-President, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is also Ukraine’s former Odessa Governor and active opposition leader, was detained in Kyiv while he was having lunch in Georgian restaurant Sulguni on February 12 and sent to Poland.

The arrest came after a series of Ukrainian court rulings against the former Governor, who was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship last year after a falling out with President Petro Poroshenko.

Saakashvili is also wanted in Georgia for multiple charges. In case he is extradited to his homeland, the third President of Georgia faces immediate arrest and imprisonment.